“The status of an ’employed person’, within the meaning of article 1(a) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71, as amended , applied to a person during a six-month period of extended unpaid leave following the birth of a child, provided that, during that period, that person was covered, even if only in respect of a single risk, on a compulsory or optional basis, by a general or special social security scheme mentioned in article 1(a) of that Regulation.”

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has called for a dramatic change in parental leave arrangements to ensure that fathers and lower-income parents are better served. The Commission insists that mothers and fathers should be able to share the leave allowance to give men more time with their children while both maternity and paternity pay should be raised to encourage low income families to take advantage of the benefit.”

“The head of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, Nicola Brewer, has just announced that recent and future improvements to maternity pay may, ironically, be backfiring on women by making employers wary of hiring and promoting them. The industrial neanderthal Sir Alan Sugar has added fuel to the fire by claiming recently that many employers bin the CVs of women of childbearing age without even considering their job applications.”

“A benefit that enriches family life or a burden that sabotages women’s careers? Nicola Brewer’s claim that the extension of maternity leave and parental rights has hampered women’s employment chances has drawn praise and criticism in equal measure.”